I posted about some of the people we met first, because most interesting. We flew to Madrid then Lisbon, spent a couple of days in Lisbon before catching our sailboat in Lisbon harbor.
We took the long tram (trolley) ride out to Belem to look at the monastery. Best pastry in the world, Pasteis de Belem. My pic before sprinkling the powered sugar on it. When the King abolished monasteries, the monks of Belem went into the pastry biz. Damn good coffee too. The place makes 8 million of these custard pastries each year with the monks' secret recipe.
More of my Lisbon and Portugal pics below the fold -
Out in Belem, this must have been one of the last monasteries built in Europe.
Good codfish cake (bacalao, not fresh fish). Mrs. BD had their Chestnut Soup at a cool cafe in Lisbon's theater district. It is chestnut season in southern Europe, so they always give you chestnuts. If you just order a beer, they bring you ten warm chestnuts.
View from our tower suite of our cool antique hotel (only 6 suites)
The hotel parlor
Our terrace
Random menu
São Jorge Castle dominates the skyline
The 1147 See . Celebrates the defeat of the Moslem rule over that corner of Iberia. Truth is, Muslim "rule" was quite decent despite the dhimmi issue.
Random menu
Restaurant they kept open for us outside Sintra in farm country
We asked them to prepare whatever the cook felt like. Melon (amazing) with Portuguese version of proscuitto, Grilled fish, grilled octopus, and Portguese lamb stew. Damn good.
$57 including the wine and bubbly water, dessert (Portuguese cheesecake) and, really, enough food for 6. Sure, we left a generous tip unnecessarily. What goes around comes around...
An outdoor beer, wine, lemonade and snack kiosk
We took the full ride on the #28. Stuck on it, like Charlie on the MTA, because we would not have known where the heck we were until we circled back.
We went to see Pena Palace in Sintra. Not worth a visit.
In the Alfama, at night
More small streets
We drove out to the western coast. Huge surf, a place for surfing (not in November). After, we drove through Cascais which Mrs. BD thought was like a small San Diego. Lovely, elegant resort town where some James Bonds have been filmed.
Under an old cloister, a Moslem city built on Roman streets.
For the tourists
From our sailing ship, leaving the harbor
